Royal Ascot: Hardwicke Stakes

The Hardwicke Stakes, held on the final day of the Royal meeting, is a Group 2 race over 1 mile 3 furlongs and 211 yards and is open to horses aged four years or older. The race is named in honour of the 5th Earl of Hardwicke, the Master of the Buckhounds in Benjamin Disraeli’s government from 1874 to 1880. The race was named in his honour in 1879, but he was an inveterate gambler who had huge debts with Agar-Robartes Bank and had to try to sell his Wimpole Hall Estate in Cambridgeshire in 1891. However, it failed to sell at auction and Lord Robartes, chairman of the Bank, had to accept the Estate in settlement of the debt.
Early history:- The inaugural running of the Hardwicke Stakes over a mile and a half of the Swinley Course took place on Friday 13th June 1879 with £2000 added prize money and a massive 168 subscribers at 10 sovereigns each. The race was won by Lord Bradford's Chippendale, beating Lord Falmouth's Silvio and Mr W Crawfurd's Lancastrian by a head and 10 lengths in 2 minutes 56 seconds.
Hardwicke Stakes 1885 Stakes Old Mile
Pos. Horse Jockey Age/weight Owner
1 BENDIGO J Snowden Jousiffe 5-9st 12lbs Mr H T Barclay 4.6 fav
2 WILLIE DARLING F Barrett T Fordham 3-7st 7lbs Mr Manton 100/6
3 CRAFTON G Barrett James Jewitt 3-7st 12lbs Mr Gerard 4/1
4 SHERATON John Osborne Wadlow 3-8st 5lbs Lord Bradford 100/8
5 WILD THYME Fred Webb Tom Jennings jnr 4-9st 7lbs Mr C J Lefevre 20/1
6 LUCERNE Tom Cannon Joseph Hayhoe 5-9st 12lbs Leopold De Rothschild 10/1
7 QUEEN ADELAIDE Fred Archer James Jewitt 4-9st 7lbs Sir J Willoughby 100/6
The Hardwicke Stakes over a mile and a half of the Swinley Course was on Friday 19th June 1885 and the winner, a brown horse by Ben Battle out of Hasty Girl, won a first prize of 3220 sovereigns from 122 subscribers (equivalent to £417,000 in 2020). Actual first prize was £2727. Over round 114%
Hardwicke Stakes Group 2 1 mile 4 furlongs 1879
                  1879
1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885